Drop shipping has become increasingly popular amongst the entrepreneurs of the 21st century.
Drop shipping has been seen by many to be an easy money making model which doesn't require stock.
Shopify describes Drop Shipping as:
Dropshipping is an order fulfillment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, the seller purchases inventory as needed from a third party—usually a wholesaler or manufacturer—to fulfill orders.
The biggest difference between dropshipping and the standard retail model is that the selling merchant doesn’t stock or own inventory—they act as the middleman.
Many teens begin drop shipping and sell their products on shopify. So, what is drop shipping? How much money can be made?
What Is Drop Shipping?
Drop shipping is a model where you purchase product from a cheap bulk source such as alibaba, amazon, etc and then sell this product on a smaller shop. The idea is that when a customer purchases from you, it automates a response for you to buy a product from your supplier, and post it to the customer with the intention to make a profit.
There are lots of different products you can sell and ways which you can make this profitable.
How much do I need to invest to start dropshipping?
Though it’s hard to predict the exact costs for any individual business, there are a few items every dropshipping business will need to spend money on to get started. Here’s a quick summary of the essential costs.
Online store
Estimated cost: $29/month
You’ll need to find an ecommerce platform or website builder to create and host your online store. We obviously recommend starting a Shopify store. You’ll be able to effortlessly sync with the DSers marketplace to source dropshipping products, and you’ll get access to our full selection of themes and free branding tools so you can get your business up and running quickly.
Domain name
Estimated cost: $5–$20/year
It’s hard to build trust with customers without your own domain name. While there are a number of top-level domains available (e.g., example.shop, example.co), we recommend looking for a .com that fits your brand, if one is available. Use our domain name generator to get started, or learn more about how to come up with a catchy business name.
Test orders
Estimated cost: Varies
Although dropshipping lets you have minimal involvement with handling your overall product catalog, you should set aside money, as well as a little bit of time, to test out the products you plan to sell. If you don’t, you risk listing a product with too many shortcomings or defects, which will result in unhappy customers and a lot of time spent dealing with returns.
Online advertising
Estimated cost: Scales with your business; we recommend budgeting at least $500 to get started
Every ecommerce business should look for ways to reduce their average cost to acquire a customer through organic channels like content marketing, SEO, and word of mouth. But to get started, advertising is usually an essential channel for most product-based businesses. The most common channels include search engine marketing (SEM), display ads, social media ads, and mobile ads.
How Much Money Can Be Made?
Simran Kaur, founder of Girls That Invest has said that she herself dabbled in drop shipping in order to save for her house deposit.
@girlsthatinvest - https://twitter.com/girlthatinvest?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
@girlsthatinvest - https://www.instagram.com/girlsthatinvest/?hl=en
But, more importantly - who has done it and actually made a profitable business out of it?
Drop Shipping can be a hugely rewarding business. Dropshippers make between a 20% and 30% profit from each sale or up to $100,000 per year on average. This works out to be between $1,000 and $5,000 per month. The remaining money goes to purchasing the product from the supplier, dropshipping fees, paying to host dropshipping websites, and marketing.
Here's a video on how much money Hayden Bowles has made from drop shipping:
Anyways, that's it from me. Let me know in the comments what you love most about dropshipping!
